"What?" When Shen Bi heard this, he subconsciously spoke in his native language, and then looked at the leisurely Chen Zhiwen. He was almost stunned at first. He didn't speak for a while, and he didn't know what was going on in his mind.
Chen Zhiwen was already prepared for this situation and just drank coffee leisurely.
"During this period, I have been thinking about who is acquiring Hutchison shares. I even suspected the Japanese and British consortiums, but I didn't expect that it turned out to be Chen Sheng." Shen Bi, who reacted quickly, returned to normal and asked Said: "Is Mr. Chen preparing to take over the Hutchison Group?"
"It can be said that my purpose is to acquire the entire Hutchison." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. We have reached this point and there is no need to hide anything.
"It seems that I underestimated the profits of Red Bull. The capital used by Chen Sheng to acquire Hutchison came from Red Bull, right?" Shen Bi thought for a while and said, "I don't know the development situation of Red Bull overseas, so I didn't expect it. , Chen Sheng may be the person behind the acquisition of Hutchison."
"Red Bull is indeed developing well." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
In Hong Kong, Red Bull is already very famous. Many people actually know that this drink sells very well in the United States. Red Bull is also available in the Hong Kong market. However, at a price of HK$2.50, there is basically no market in Hong Kong where the per capita income is HK$200. However, Because Red Bull is very profitable, and Chen Zhiwen treats his employees very well, Red Bull has become a company that Hong Kong's lower-level workers aspire to, and it has gained some fame.
But no one knows that just advertising on mainstream American TV stations and major super competition venues is an investment of millions of dollars every year. Now Red Bull is not making much money at all.
Of course, if you want to make money and reduce advertising investment, you can easily earn tens of millions of dollars a year, but this will overdraw the potential of Red Bull in the future and risk being overturned by other players. In addition, now that arcades have begun to make profits, Red Bull has also No need to take any more risks.
Of course, Chen Zhiwen's funds did not come from Red Bull, but there was no need to explain too much to Shen Bi. If he refused to admit it and sent people to the United States to investigate in detail, then things about Costco and Wal-Mart might not be able to be concealed.
"How many Hutchison shares does Mr. Chen have in his hands now?" Shen Bi asked after he calmed down.
"Almost 35%." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.
"35%?" Shen Bi was shocked again and said, "You can already control the entire Hutchison at this ratio. Why haven't you announced it directly to the outside world?"
"Out of respect for HSBC and Mr. Shen Bi, the acquisition of Hutchison has never been a question of equity ratio, but a debt issue, so I would like to discuss the necessary issues with Mr. Shen Bi before the announcement. To prevent excessive impact on the capital market and other banks," Chen Zhiwen said.
"Since you have controlled nearly 40% of Hutchison's stock, you are already the new owner of Hutchison. In this case, I would like to ask, if you take over Hutchison, how will you solve the current difficulties of Hutchison?" Shen Bi thought. Liao Xiang asked.
His previous plan was that if Qi Dezun could pay back the money slowly, even a little slowly, as long as he had this ability, then HSBC would not have to face the consequences. But if not, he would need to drive Qi Dezun away and hand over Hutchison to someone with the ability. After all, Hutchison still owns many real estate properties, as well as many profitable projects that have been temporarily suspended due to financial problems. As long as these projects are activated, it is still possible to revive Hutchison.
But now that an outsider has acquired a controlling stake in Hutchison, its own strategy can only be suspended. In the final analysis, the safety of HSBC's debt is the most important. As long as it can repay its debts steadily, HSBC doesn't care who is the boss of Hutchison.
"Hutchison has many problems." Chen Zhiwen had already prepared his speech and said: "The first is to clean up the current management. Hutchison has too many managements now, and most people are too busy. After streamlining, not only can we Reducing labor costs can also get the entire business up and running again.
The second is to clean up irrelevant industries. In order to expand the scale in the past few years, Qi Dezun wanted to get involved in all companies and industries, which led to management chaos and most branches were in debt. My idea is that except for the core of Hutchison Industry, nothing else, nothing else. "
"Core industry? What is Chen Sheng talking about?" Shen Bi nodded and asked.
"Real estate, ports, retail, investment, these are the four that I value at the moment." Chen Zhiwen said that after Li Jiacheng acquired Hutchison Whampoa, after years of development, there are actually only five main businesses. The previous four were related to telecommunications. Others have been marginalized or sold long ago.
"In this case, Hutchison's size will be reduced to less than half of its current size. Even if Hutchison recovers, it may no longer be one of the four major foreign banks in Hong Kong." Shen Bi said with a smile.
"Whether it is one of the four major foreign banks depends on its scale, not how many industries it involves. Even if one field becomes larger, it can still become one of the four or even the largest. Besides, in the future, Hutchison will no longer be a foreign bank after it is acquired by me. Yes." Chen Zhiwen said confidently.
Hutchison's current liabilities are indeed very heavy. The liabilities of the head office and its subsidiaries from Hong Kong and overseas banks are estimated to be at least HK$2.5 billion. In addition, since the oil crisis, the world has begun to enter the era of great inflation. In order to suppress inflation, Europe and the United States Central banks have begun to increase benchmark interest rates, causing all liabilities to face increased interest pressure.
The crisis that Hutchison is in is actually not difficult to solve. As long as it lasts for another year and Hong Kong land prices increase by 30%, even if Hutchison is still losing money and cannot repay its debts, the debt ratio will be seriously reduced, not to mention that once Real estate began to take off, and it was difficult for real estate companies not to make money.
Therefore, it is very important to get the support of HSBC now. If HSBC presses for debt now, Hutchison will have no choice but to go bankrupt. But if it has no choice, HSBC will not do this, because it will also suffer heavy losses.
"Chen Sheng is very confident, but what the bank needs is guarantee." Shen Bi said with a frown.
"As a guarantee, I don't know if this is enough." Chen Zhiwen took out a plastic-sealed document from the briefcase beside him and handed it to Shen Bi.
"100 million US dollars? This is Citibank's credit line." Shen Bi's face changed drastically after seeing this piece of paper.
Citibank is one of the top five super banks in the United States. Compared with others, HSBC is nothing more than a small rural landowner.
"This was issued to me by Citibank in the United States. It has a corresponding document version number, which is unique in the world. If Mr. Shen Bi doubts the authenticity, he can call Citibank's headquarters to inquire about the authenticity." Chen Zhiwen said calmly.
There is no way, Wal-Mart's performance is too good. Under the leadership of the Walton family, Wal-Mart supermarkets in the United States began to spread from Arkansas to nearby state capitals, opening stores in one city after another. Basically, every store opened It is so popular that it has defeated supermarket giant Celtic in many places. Coupled with the optimism of a large number of investors, the stock has also been rising.
With such high-quality assets, what bank would not want to provide loans?
The less money you have, the more banks will try their best to collect debts, such as Hutchison's current situation. But if you have money, banks will be happy to lend you more money. If you don't want it, the bank will have to beg you.
Even if Citibank is the world's top bank, this is still the case. Besides, a loan of US$100 million is a huge amount in this era. How many countries want to obtain such funds have to sign a bunch of agreements with ZZ conditions.
"I believe in the authenticity." Shen Bi said after putting down the document. This is just a certificate and cannot be exchanged for a penny in cash. But if it is fake and discovered, it will be wanted by the United States. Besides, he also works in a bank. Throughout his life, he has come across this kind of certificate. Cross-border cooperation requires similar financial proof, but he has never seen such a large amount.
"I wonder if this document from Citibank can convince HSBC that I have the ability to run Hutchison." Chen Zhiwen continued.
"Of course, now I can only believe it." Shen Bi nodded silently and said.
Hutchison's biggest problem is that it has no cash flow. Now that it has it, it is no longer a problem. As long as it lasts for a year or two and the real estate market and the Hong Kong stock market recover, it will be over.
"Okay, I feel relieved after Mr. Shen Bi said this." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Chen Sheng, what do you plan to do with Qi Dezun's group?" Shen Bi asked.
(End of chapter)
